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Feathering PDF
Feathering PDF
OF CREAM IN COFFEE1
By L. H. BURGWALD
Assistant Market Milk Specialist, Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, United
States Department of Agriculture2
PLAN OF EXPERIMENTS
Feathering is the flaking or curdling of cream in coffee. This is sometimes troublesome to milk dealers because customers assume that it
indicates sourness; and because, although sweet cream when it feathers
does not produce a sour taste in the coffee, yet it gives an unpleasing
appearance. It is known that sour cream will feather when added to
hot coffee, but at times cream that is sweet to the taste will do likewise.
From this it may be concluded that there must be factors other than
high acidity which affect or influence feathering. With this in mind
a number of factors were studied as follows:
Acidity of coffee made by different methodsboiled, percolated, drip.
Use of coffees of different gradeshigh, medium, low.
Method of mixing cream and coffee
(a) Adding cream to coffee without sugar.
(6) Adding cream to coffee and sugar.
(c) Adding coffee to cream without sugar.
(d) Adding coffee to cream and sugar.
Age of cream.
Kind of creampercentage of butterfat, and whether raw, pasteurized,
homogenized, or frozen.
The acidity of the cream was the basic factor for determining the
effect which these various other factors had on the feathering of the
cream. The acidity was determined as lactic acid by titrating with
N/20 NaOH, using phenolphthalein as an indicator. The conclusions are
based on results obtained from a total of about 900 different tests.
ACIDITY OF COFFEE
Three different methods of making coffee were triedboiling, percolating, and dripping.
Boiled.The coffee was medium ground, 50 grams to 500 cc. of
distilled water, boiled for five minutes, filtered, cooled, and made up to
500 cc.
Percolated.The coffee was medium ground, 50 grams to 500 cc.
distilled water, percolated for five minutes, filtered, cooled, and made up
to 500 cc.
French drip.Pulverized coffee, 50 grams to 500 cc. of boiling distilled water poured through the coffee once, filtered, cooled, and made
up to 500 cc.
1
3
542
The acidity of the coffees made by these various methods, using bromthymol blue as indicator, is shown in the following table:
TABLE
Hydrogeivion
concentration.
Boiled
Percolated..
French drip
Cc.
High
Medium. . . .
Low
Special brand
12.0
12.012.S
12.5
Dec. 15,1923
543
544
III.Results of composite tests of raw cream testing 18 and 20 per cent butterfat
Method of mixing cream and coffee.
Acidity of cream.
a
TABLE
IV.Results of composite tests of raw cream testing jo and 35 per cent butterfat
Method of mixing cream and coffee.
Acidity of cream.
a
TABLE
VI.Comparative tests of raw and pasteurized cream testing 30 per cent butterfat
Method of mixing cream and coffee.
Acidity of cream.
Raw cream:
0.23 per cent.
0.26 per cent..
0.30 per cent..
Pasteurized
cream:
0.22 per cent..
0.24 per cent..
0.275 per cent.
0.295 Per
No feathering.
do
Feathering. . .
No feathering
do
Feathering...
ce
do
nt.
No feathering.
do
Feathering. . .
No feathering.
do
Feathering. . .
Feathering.
Do.
Do.
No feathering.
do
Feathering.. ..
do
No feathering.
do
Trace
do
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Dec 15,1923
TABLE
545
Acidity of cream.
No feathering..
Trace
No feathering... No feathering..
Trace
do
Feathering.
Feathering.
Trace
Do.
....do
....do
Feathering.
Do.
Trace.
Feathering.
Acidity of cream.
b
1,000
pounds
pressure:
0.135
per
cent.
0.145
Per
cent.
0.185
per
cent.
2,000
pounds
pressure:
0.125
per
cent.
0.135
per
cent.
0.170
per
cent.
3,000
pounds
pressure:
0.135
per
cent.
0.145
Per
cent.
0.175
per
cent.
4,000
pounds
pressure:
0.135
per
cent.
0.145
per
cent.
0.180
per
cent.
a
do
Feathering
Feathering
do
Trace
Do.
Feathering.
...
do
... .do
Feathering
Feathering
Trace
No feathering... No feathering...
do
Trace
Feathering
Feathering.
Do.
Do.
do
Do.
Feathering
Feathering
Feathering
Do.
Trace
Trace
No feathering...
Do.
Feathering
Feathering
do
Do.
do
do
Feathering
Do.
There was no feathering up to 0.190 per cent add on a sample of the same cream not homogenize J.
7168824
546
II
SUMMARY
In determining the effect of the various factors on the feathering of
cream in coffee, the acidity of the cream was taken as the basic factor,
because it was present in all cases. It was also the factor having the
greatest influence on feathering. Cream having an acidity of threetenths of i per cent tastes sour to most people and will almost invariably
feather when added to hot coffee.
The average temperature of the coffee at the time of mixing it with the
cream was about 95 o C.
The acidity of the coffee made by different processes, namely, boiled,
percolated, and dripped, was practically identical. The hydrogen-ion
determinations were respectively as follows: PH 4.92, 4.91 and 4.92.
This excluded the method of preparation as having any effect on feathering.
The acidity of coffee made by the drip method from high, medium, and
low grades of known quality, and from a special brand of unknown quality
but supposedly high grade, was practically the same. There was no
noticeable difference in the effect of the various grades of coffee on the
feathering of the cream.
Each experiment consisted of
(a) Adding cream to coffee without sugar.
{b) Adding cream to coffee and sugar.
(c) Adding coffee to cream without sugar.
(d) Adding coffee to cream and sugar.
Of these four factors, adding the coffee to the cream and sugar had the
greatest effect on the feathering; in other words, the cream feathered at a
much lower acidity in (d) than it did in either (a), (6), or (c). Adding
the coffee to the cream without sugar, (c), had the least effect on the feathering, although the advantage as compared with (a) and (6) was very
slight.
Aging cream for from 7 to 10 days at a low temperature (10 or 20 C.) so
as to keep acidity increase at a minimum, had no effect on the feathering.
The richness of the cream had very little effect on the feathering,
though the richer cream (higher in percentage of butterfat) feathered at a
slightly lower acidity. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that the
titratable acidity in the richer cream was more nearly true acid.
Pasteurizing had but little effect on the feathering; however, there was a
tendency for pasteurized cream to feather at a slightly lower acidity than
the same cream not pasteurized.
Homogenization greatly affected the feathering of cream, causing it to
feather at a decidedly lower acidity than any of the creams not homogenized. The greater the homogenizing pressure used, the lower the
acidity at which the cream feathered.
Freezing the cream had no effect on feathering. A heavy, oily layer
always appeared on the coffee, however, when cream that had been
frozen was added.
The main factors causing feathering of cream in coffee are: High
acidity; homogenization; adding hot coffee to cream and sugar. Acidity
and homogenization are chiefly commercial problems. It is well to
homogenize only cream of very low acidity if it is to be used in coffee,
and to keep the homogenizing pressure as low as possible. Adding hot
coffee to cream and sugar is a household and restaurant problem. It is
well not to mix the cream and sugar before adding the hot coffee.